Elara's pov
I fell to the floor, the drink I had forced down at the Gala on fire in my stomach, probably reacting with the dark sludge like serum I took.
My skin felt raw, like something inside me was trying to claw its way out through flesh. A thin layer of white frost began to bloom across my skin, turning the ends of my hair brittle and white. I could hardly breathe.
How could I be an Anchor if I couldn't even anchor myself?
"Your father sold me a human girl, Elara," Lucian said, without a care for how I crumpled on the floor. "You were supposed to be just an Anchor, not a soul eater. Why is he still alive if you can do this?"
"Because I was human..." I choked out. "Until you touched me."
Lucian's grip tightened, pulling me flush against the heat of his chest. "Don't lie to me. A power like this doesn't appear overnight."
"I was nothing!" I sobbed, the sound breaking into a cough. "I lived twenty-one years in normalcy. I never hurt a soul. I didn't feel this... this hunger until you came along. You should have left me alone."
Lucian went still. Beside us, Killian let out a soft whistle.
"She was a dormant Void...We're calling her power void right?" Killian asked, turning to Lucian "Anyway, your Alpha energy turned it on."
A heavy, rhythmic thundering shook the doors of the study.
"Alpha Valerius!" the Council's Enforcer boomed. "The Elders demand to verify the status of the Anchor. Open the door!"
"Enough of this shit! Tell Silas if he wants to touch her, he should bring an army," Lucian roared, his voice a vibration that made the stone walls tremble. "Not a fucking messenger."
The footsteps in the hall faltered, then retreated. Lucian turned his back on the door, his eyes locking onto mine.
"You're shivering."
"She's starving," Killian said, his eyes tracing the path of the Viper crest on my shoulder. "I think it's looking for a meal. If she doesn't drain something soon, she's going to hollow out this entire wing. Starting with us."
"I won't... I can't," I whispered.
"You don't have a choice," Lucian said.
He moved to the wall and pressed a hidden lever. A section of the bookshelf slid back, revealing a narrow, damp staircase.
He dragged me down into the sub-basement- the Correction Cells.
In the last cell sat a wolf chained to the wall. He whimpered the moment he saw my pale, ghostly form, or maybe it was because of the bigger monsters at my back.
"He's a traitor," Lucian said, his voice flat. "He's scheduled for execution at dawn. Consider this a head start."
"No," I sobbed, pulling back. "I'm not a killer."
"Touch him."
He used his Alpha Command—a mental weight that crushed my will. My feet moved against my own desire. My hand rose, shaking, toward the prisoner's chest.
"Lucian, please... I'm tired..."
"Do it," Lucian commanded.
My fingers brushed the man's bare skin.
A pull started in the center of my palms. I felt the man's heat, his very essence rush into me, and for the first time in hours, I could breathe properly, and the shivering stopped.
The prisoner didn't die. Instead, he let out a high, thin wail as his wolf was sucked out through his pores.
Inside my head, a guttural howl echoed, and for a split second, I saw a flash of his Merging, the sacred moment his human soul had first bonded to his wolf, and then I felt that bond snap.
I watched as the fur-like texture of his skin smoothed out. His eyes, once glowing amber, turned a flat, dull human brown.
I had Wolf-Stripped him.
The man slumped against his chains, sobbing, and I had a sick feeling he would have preferred death to this.
I ripped my hand away, falling back against Lucian's legs, gasping. I felt sick, but worst of all, I felt energized. Clear. Strong.
Like my body had just been rewarded for doing something unforgivable.
"Incredible," Killian whispered from the doorway. He didn't look horrified. He looked... impressed. "She didn't kill him. She... ladies and gentlemen... neutered him."
"The Council thinks you're a miracle because you can hold my madness," Lucian said. "But if they saw this... if they knew you could strip an Alpha of his wolf with a single touch..."
"They'd kill me," I finished.
"No," Killian said, a dark smirk playing on his lips. "That's the funny part. They'd worship you first. Then they'd chain you up and use you to turn every rival pack into cattle."
Back in the study, Lucian pushed me toward the mirror. I had to grip the edge of the table just to stay standing.
"Look at yourself."
I looked. My skin was no longer gray. It was luminous, almost glowing, and my eyes once a simple brown had flecks of silver in them that hadn't been there before.
I looked less like me. More like something that belonged in this house.
"I have to meet with the High Alphas," Lucian said, his voice tight. "They're smelling blood after the Seer incident."
He leaned down, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. "Don't break while I'm gone, little wolf."
He left without another word, leaving me alone with Killian.
Killian didn't loom over me. Instead, he pulled out a chair and practically lifted me into it. As I sat, he reached out, his fingers tucked a stray, frosted hair behind my ear.
"Sit. You look like you're about to shatter."
I sat, wary. "Why are you... being like this?"
"You must forgive my brother. Life has taught him hard lessons. He sees a weapon. I see... potential. You don't want to hurt people, do you?"
"No."
He picked up a small flower from a vase and placed it in my hands.
"Try to pull energy or life from this. Just the flower. Not the room and, please, not my handsome self because the ladies will miss me too much."
I stared at him. He wasn't yelling or using Alpha Command. He was just watching me.
"Why help me?"
"Because, little leash, if you learn to control that hunger, you might just be the only person in this house who can actually stand up to my brother. And I'd pay a lot of money to see that."
I wanted to throw the flower at his face but instead, I held it tighter.
I closed my eyes and reached for the flower. I didn't want to feel like a weapon, but I knew I had to learn to control this.
"Good," he whispered as the flower turned to dust. "Now let's try something bigger."